Costa Coffee paired with chicken sandwich
Food pairing is usually carried out to enhance flavors of a dish and forms part of a restaurant’s push to upsell to diners. Apart from wine, coffee is often paired with poultry. Coffee has a plethora of flavors, ranging from intensity and aroma. The versatility of coffee makes it ideal to pair with poultry1.
To determine which coffee pairs best with a type of poultry, it is important to identify the roast and body of the coffee through taste and scent. Roasting is a heat process that highlights different aromas and flavors of the coffee beans. There are three different categories of roasts. Light roasts may have fruity, spicy, acidic, or floral flavors. Medium roasts may feature notes of flowers, and/or chocolate. Lastly, dark roasts may have woody, roasted, smoky, or bittersweet notes2. The body of the coffee describes how coffee feels on the tongue. It also has three unique categories, which are light, medium, and full. Light-bodied coffee is light on the palate and has a clean finish while full-bodied coffee is heavier with lingering flavors3.
After determining the roast and body of the coffee beans, it is recommended to take note that foods with similar major flavors and aromatic compounds will harmonize in taste when paired4. It is ideal to choose the dominant flavor in the poultry dish and pair with coffee that has similar notes for the perfect food pairing5. For example, latitude coffee beans from Carta Coffee produce a sweet and nutty flavored coffee. It can be paired with apricot-dijon glazed turkey with herbed pilaf to enhance its sweet flavor6. Foods such as poultry and fruity pies go well with medium-bodied coffee. Light-bodied coffee can be paired with fruits, hard cheese, and pastries. Full-bodied coffee and creamy desserts or spicy foods pairs well together7.
Colombian coffees have a wine-like texture and an herbaceous finish with subtle notes of citrus. They pair well with seasoned turkey of a drier texture8. Costa Coffee offers a series of sandwiches, pastries, and sweets that are paired with its signature coffee. According to media reviews, their grilled chicken and prosciutto ham sandwich taste better when coupled with a cup of café latte9.
Coffee tasters paid more attention to the sensory experience when pairing coffee with poultry during the 1970 Specialty Coffee Movement. Additionally, the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel was invented in 1995, based on the Wine Taster’s Flavor Wheel10. With over 1,500 aromatic and flavor compounds discovered in coffee, coffee is the new “wine” to pair with poultry.
References
1 Carta Coffee Merchants. (2016). COFFEE PAIRING: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PAIRING FOOD WITH KONA COFFEE. [online] Available at: http://www.cartacoffee.com/blogs/island-blog/coffee-pairing-pairing-food-with-kona-coffee
2 Carta Coffee Merchants. (2016). COFFEE PAIRING: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PAIRING FOOD WITH KONA COFFEE. [online] Available at: http://www.cartacoffee.com/blogs/island-blog/coffee-pairing-pairing-food-with-kona-coffee
3 Coffee At Home. (2016). Taste the Differences. [online] Available at: http://athome.starbucks.com/taste-the-differences/
4 Coffee Kind. (2014). Pairing Coffee With Foods: A Simple Primer and a Little Science. [online] Available at: http://www.coffeekind.com/reading-room/pairing-coffee-with-foods-a-simple-primer-and-a-little-science/
5 Coffee Kind. (2014). Pairing Coffee With Foods: A Simple Primer and a Little Science. [online] Available at: http://www.coffeekind.com/reading-room/pairing-coffee-with-foods-a-simple-primer-and-a-little-science/
6 Carta Coffee Merchants. (2016). COFFEE PAIRING: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PAIRING FOOD WITH KONA COFFEE. [online] Available at: http://www.cartacoffee.com/blogs/island-blog/coffee-pairing-pairing-food-with-kona-coffee
7 Coffee Kind. (2014). Pairing Coffee With Foods: A Simple Primer and a Little Science. [online] Available at: http://www.coffeekind.com/reading-room/pairing-coffee-with-foods-a-simple-primer-and-a-little-science/
8 Canterbury Coffee. (2016). COFFEE PAIRINGS FOR YOUR PERFECT THANKSGIVING FEAST AT HOME. [online] Available at: http://www.canterburycoffee.com/coffee-pairings-for-your-perfect-thanksgiving-feast-at-home/
9 ABS-CBN News. (2016). Food shorts: Coffee, sandwiches, breakfast sets. [online] Available at: http://news.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/02/17/16/food-shorts-coffee-sandwiches-breakfast-sets
10 Flight Coffee co. (2016). Taste, Flavor and Aroma. [online] Available at: http://flightcoffeeco.com/blogs/news/9721204-taste-flavor-and-aroma